The move to expand Surface sales into the new regions also includes value-added services for businesses such as asset tagging, custom imaging, recycling, data protection, and onsite service and support.

The timing is not coincidental. Microsoft believes that Windows 8.1 (rolling out on October 18th) includes more than enough features to make the Surface tablet palatable to business consumers. In our continuing series on Windows 8.1 for businesses (The IT Guide to Windows 8.1), you can get a sense of Windows 8.1's business focus, though many of the Enterprise-level features will require companies to also rollout Windows Server 2012.